This year, five small groups from Vietnam were invited to Japan to meet and exchange views with Japanese counterparts. The groups comprised representatives of the Vietnamese Government Price Department, the State Fiscal and Monetary Council, the Ministry of Education and Training (including Japanese speech contest winners), the State Planning Committee and the National Center of Social Science and Humanity. The visitors from the Price Department and the State Fiscal and Monetary Council helped formulate guidelines for the "Assistance Program on Reform of Fiscal and Monetary Policies for SFMC," a new SSACF project to be launched in the following fiscal year.